Today we’d like to introduce you to Mollee & Kiel Rucker.
Hi Mollee & Kiel, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I’ve spent 20 years working in every possible realm of the supplement industry and Kiel has spent 15+ years as an entrepreneur building a successful and well-regarded set of photography businesses: Kiel Rucker Photography and Head & Heart photography.
Over the years we’ve become incredibly picky about what supplements we use when we use them and WHY we use them.
And when it comes to nootropics, ketosis-enhancing products, and workout-supporting supplements, we’re just as picky.
Between the two of us, we knew we had the skill sets needed to share our nootropic creation with the masses. Dissatisfied with much of what we found available, we created our own highly efficacious keto nootropic creamer called Keto Brainz Nootropic Creamer. Yes, we made it for ourselves, but it’s been absolutely amazing sharing it with the world!
At Keto Brainz we’re passionate about personal evolution. We believe that LIFE is the ride of a lifetime. We know the time to be a finite resource and we feel this at a core level. There’s so very much to learn and explore. We need brains and bodies that are clear and ready to take on all of the things!
Who we are: We’re an insanely curious and intellectually driven brother-sister duo. We’re self-driven, self-creating, autodidactic geeks with a sometimes penchant for the beautiful self-torture of endurance sport.
Who we are not: We are not scientists, we are not doctors, we are not researchers, we are not experts.
We are though rather expert at gathering and filtering data and resources on topics we find meaningful. And, if you’ve ever met us, you know we can’t keep our mouths shut when we’re excited about something we’ve learned.
We believe in living your best life and we understand that that looks different for everyone. We understand that living your best life is difficult, but also the single most important thing a human can aim for.
Our products aim to be staples in the lives of people who are ever looking to improve their lives and optimize their minds.
Keto Brainz Nootropic creamer was born of THIS.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Building a business from scratch is not for the faint of heart. Keto Brainz almost didn’t happen.
We had a name, a logo, and a product formulation we were pretty certain others would love as much as we did. But! We were (and kinda still are) the definition of a bootstrapped start-up.
A brother & sister with one credit card, silly amounts of dopamine & passion, and a potentially epic product…with no way to produce it. In the beginning, we were thinking way too big. There is no world where you get proper business funding prior to proof of concept.
All of the co-packers we were looking to work with required massive MOQ’s. We were in no position to produce 50,000 units of Keto Brainz out the gate. We needed to start with just a wee 500-1000 units. But WHO would produce such a small run?
One sad day when were almost resigned to not move forward with Keto Brainz, we were sitting at coffee shop trying to figure out if maybe we could simply start by renting out a commercial kitchen to do our first small runs ourselves.
This too became problematic as we were producing a hybrid food/nutraceutical product. Most kitchens were only certified for a food products.
We were at a dead end, drinking coffee, wracking our brains for options. Then I had a thought…I had a friend with a local protein powder company. I knew that he’d started small and local. I’d not spoken to him in YEARS, but I thought “what the hell!”, let’s see if he knows of a commercial kitchen we might be able to produce in.
I sent him an e-mail as we sadly sipped our coffee thinking Keto Brainz was not going to happen. Within minutes, he respond with: Why don’t you have us produce and co-pack for you? I had no idea he was now producing and co-packing his own products and others in his local facility.
Despair over thinking we’d never bring Keto Brainz to market ended in an instant and our excitement was back – twofold!
Fast forward two years and this same friend has become our first and only investor. He’s expanded his operation to where we now have our own warehouse space and we’ll soon be able to pack and ship out of that very facility. Keto Brainz is now sold in multiple locations worldwide and we’re positioned to double our growth in 2023.
Without that e-mail to our friend on that sad day in that Ventura coffee shop, Keto Brainz might not exist.
Since that fortuitous day, we’ve faced many other “fun” obstacles. In the first years of Covid, acquiring raw materials became ever more difficult, shipping costs more than doubled and the time it took to receive the ingredients needed to produce Keto Brainz were very extended. At no point though did we think it was time to give up. We just pushed forward no matter the roadblock. We’re still pushing forward no matter the obstacle.
We’re entering 2023 with a wealth of actionable knowledge gained over the 3 years we’ve been in business and are grateful for all that we’ve learned and will continue to learn.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Kiel Rucker: Entrepreneur, phpotographer, optimal Movement Enthusiast, philosophy & language obsessed. I grew up in Murphy’s, CA in the foothills of the Western Sierras before finding myself in Santa Barbara two weeks after graduating high school.
During a gap year or two (or three) between attempting the prescribed educational path via SBCC and UCSB, I backpacked through Western Europe, then studied Spanish and Language in Chile thanks to the EAP program at UCSB.
After spending more time and money than any rational person should to realize that learning has nothing do with a degree, I made the conscious decision to see and experience life from that point on as a photographer (among many other things).
My latest obsessions include concepts of identity, decentralization, macroeconomics, NFTs, digital nation-states, and self-optimization…I’m also recently determined that I am what Andrew Huberman would describe as a “novelty seeker.” I crave novelty.
Current Favorite Quote
“We must constantly project the illusion of self because if we don’t, we aren’t.” – Jed Mckenna
Current Favorite Books
Homo Deus, Foundation, Spiritually Incorrect Enlightenment, How To Change Your Mind
Current Projects/Efforts
Keto Brainz, Head & Heart Photography, Kiel Rucker Photography, *Rebuilding and relaunching my nature, travel, and landscape photography website (coming soon…). @yosoykiel
Mollee Rucker: Nutritionist, self-hacker & nutraceutical geek with over 20 years of experience in the supplement industry. COMT AA. Dogs are my favorite people.
I grew up in the woods in a house with 52 stairs, a German Shepherd named Big Dog and hippies for parents. We actually did have a mile walk up a dirt road to the bus stop.
I’ve learned over a life thus far lived that I do not enjoy being unconsciously whipped around by my own emotions or my own biology. This has led me to an unwavering desire to understand the evolutionary mechanisms and neurochemistry that drive us as humans.
I believe CHOICE is the magic we have as humans. We cannot often choose our circumstances but we can always choose our responses to our circumstances.
I’m clear. The fact that we exist is incredibly improbable. Yet here we are, the sentient owners of bodies built for survival and brains that refuse to accept that’s all we are. Pretty Fu**ing epic.
Favorite Authors & Books
Oliver Sacks – The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat
Ayn Rand – Atlas Shrugged
Matt Ridley – Nature Via Nurture
EO Wilson – Consilience
Tom Robbins – Skinny Legs And All
Current Favorite Quote
“Suffering is humbling. It pays to know how to get your butt kicked.” – Christopher McDougall from Born to Run
Do you have any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
My favorite memories are post “true” childhood. Kiel and I have lived together, traveled together and adventured together many times over the years starting in our early 20s. When I first moved to Santa Barbara, Kiel & I got a tiny apartment together. It was near the railroad tracks in not the best neighborhood, but it was what we could afford and it was perfect. We made that spot a warm, golden home. To this day I can smell the coffee we made with raw cream and honey and I can feel the warm golden vibe. We didn’t have a traditional “home” to go back to after going off on our own as kids, but we crafted our own tiny wonderful sanctuary to begin building our own lives from.
Pricing:
- 39.99
Contact Info:
- Website: https://ketobrainz.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ketobrainz/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KetoBrainz/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/ketobrainz
